Legal Question in Elder Law in Washington

Find out 2 years later father died, never notified!

This is kinda a long story so i will try to shorten it! My father was in a dementia and alheziemers center, because of things that happened in the past my sisters and I choose to not go visit him. We did however speak with the nurses from time to time to see how he was and spoke with him a time or two as well. The last time we called was about 2 and a half years ago and we asked the nurses to please call us if his health changed and we told them why we choose to not come see him (not that it was their buisness) So I had been debating on going to visit him for the past few years and finally worked up the courage to go see him and when i called they said he was not a resident there, to make a long story short they wouldnt tell us anything and when they said they would call us back they never did (3 different times) We found out by calling vital statistics that he passed away NOVEMBER 2005!!!! They had our phone numbers and names and we never recieved any notice! We feel like something very important was taken from us, we never had the chance to say goodbye or to be with him in his final hours.They still have not returned our calls, we got a death certificate . What should we leagally do, please help!


Asked on 4/23/08, 10:35 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Merry Kogut Key Peninsula Law

Re: Find out 2 years later father died, never notified!

I do a lot of guardianship work, and you wouldn't believe how many times nursing homes (and especially dementia and alheziemers centers) don't have current contact information for loved ones! Sometimes the homes try and try to reach loved ones, to no avail.

I don't think there's any recourse against the nursing home for not contacting you. I doubt that they had an obligation, either by law or contract.

If your father had a guardian, then that guardian DID have a legal obligation to let you know - in fact, to send you copies of updates about your father.

However, if you think about it, the best way to find peace with this is to hold the memorial service, and put the announcements into the paper, just like you would have had you learned of this in a timely manner. Have a ceremony of some sort, even if it's just a glass of wine. You were denied closure two years ago, but that doesn't prevent you from finding it now.

Good luck,

Merry

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Answered on 4/23/08, 11:25 pm


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